What another spectacular episode. We got quite a bit of character development and I can’t wait to see how we’re going to grow from here (haha did you see what I did there?) But in all seriousness, it seems like this anime will take its time developing each of our relevant characters an ultimately giving us a great team to cheer for.
This episode focused heavily on the idea of prodigy vs practice, which I know a lot of us have experienced in our daily lives. We always hear the phrase “practice makes perfect” and so we practice, but someone much better comes along and suddenly you’re left wondering if all that practice was really worth it. And, in the first half of the episode we’re almost made to believe that Sora is a basketball prodigy. But the further we get into the episode, the more we realize, that he’s probably the most practiced out of all of them. By this point we’re all very aware that Sora’s biggest struggle to becoming a Basketball player is his height. And yet, one thing that I’ve really been enjoying is that Sora hasn’t been mopey about it. Of course, we get the flashbacks of him speaking with his mom, but overall, while everyone else is quick to mock him for it, it really doesn’t seem to affect him all that much. Of course, we’re only two episodes in so there’s still plenty of time for that. But what I really enjoyed was the whole idea of taking your weakness and turning it into a strength. When everyone pushes you off and doesn’t see you as a threat that’s when you can strike and surprise all of them.
Speaking of surprises, I was really impressed with how we were able to learn more about Momoharu. Momoharu was someone who I was definitely interested in after watching the first episode, however he was definitely out shined by Sora and Chiaki. But as we watched Sora more and more, the more we got to learn about Momoharu. Momoharu clearly has passion for the game of Basketball, more than anyone else on the team (minus Sora, that’s still up for debate), but how did the sport he cared about so much end up turning against him? In middle school he used to stay after practice for free throws, primarily because his biggest weakness was depth perception. I’m very happy that they showed this aspect of him because it really emphasized his determination and desire to practice to become the best player on the team. But sometimes practice does not make perfect and paired with a rather unsupportive atmosphere it’s pretty clear why someone would want to leave a sport that they had given so much effort and dedication. I mean, I know I would feel really bad if I put in extra hours than my peers and yet was still unable to surpass them. I… just really like how they built Momoharu’s character in this episode and it has definitely left me with high expectations for others.
Going into the next episode, I’m looking forward to watching Momoharu rekindle that spark he once had for basketball and for the basketball club to finally take shape. There’s a long road ahead for them, filled with growing pains, struggles, and disappointment, but there’s also room for joy, passion and determination, but I’m ready for the ride.
